


Woods of Wonderland

by Merfilly



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Genre: Gen, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 11:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1981683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A campfire tale of one little girl named Alice and the wonders that found her in the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Woods of Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

  * For [consumedly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/consumedly/gifts).



The campfire crackled and the children closed in around it. They were between the ages of eight and twelve, with the youngest exuding excitement and the eldest pretending she was bored. All three girls watched as the woman with them settled in opposite the fire, her smile a little devilish in the light of the flames.

"Will you tell us a story, Mother?" the youngest asked.

"It will be scary," the woman told them.

"I'm not afraid!" the middle child, fierce and determined, told her in response.

"Then let me tell you a story of a girl named Alice, who learned once that the woods were not always a friendly place to be, especially by night."

The children leaned in, even the eldest, as stars twinkled near an almost full moon and the fire sang its own lullaby.

* * *

Alice had only wanted to see where the small rabbit had gone, but now she could not find her camp. She wandered from one tree to another, certain it was just right over the next hillock. Yet as the darkness closed in, Alice heard nothing of her sister, of the campers, nothing at all to help her find her way.

With a wretched cry, she flung herself down on the ground, uncaring of leaves and pine needles tangling in her hair as she did. She looked upward into the boughs of the tree, seeking any sign at all.

The moon, big and round in its fullness, beckoned to her. She hardly noticed the stars as she sat up, staring at the luminous orb above.

"You are lost," came a whisper, but Alice's quick eyes saw nothing of a person to say the words. There was only a cat, bigger than her Dinah, up on a limb.

"I must find my family," Alice told the cat, even though it was just a cat. Maybe a lynx, she thought, and that made her spine tingle at the thought of danger.

No more words echoed in the night air, and Alice finally rose to her feet to begin another search for her family. Maybe she'd hear them calling for her.

Distantly, a wolf howled, and then was answered. It made the hair on the back of her neck rise, but she pressed on.

"They hunt this night, and oh, what prey they will find."

Again, no one was near who might have said the words, and even the cat was not in sight. Alice pressed on, her steps quicker, her path broken by little stumbles as fallen branches tangled her attempt to find a way home.

The howls began to weave into a song, and Alice thought they were growing closer. With her heart in her mouth, Alice began to run, trying to avoid as many obstacles as she could. However, the trees themselves seemed to betray her, thickening at every turn until she could not flee as swiftly as she desired.

"This way, dear child," called a voice and now Alice did see someone. A most frightful face peered at her from under the brim of a hat, looking most like a witch from a fairytale.

Still, it was safety from the howling, and Alice moved that way, finding herself ushered into a cottage built into the side of a hill. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Call me Hattie, dear child." The crone tipped her hat slightly, then bustled around the small cottage to gather cups and a pot. "The wolves are hunting, and that is nothing for a lass like you to meet, unless the taste of blood and flesh is what you crave."

Alice's skin crawled at the very idea, but her stomach rumbled as if the idea was most appealing. Aghast, Alice covered her mouth, but the crone merely laughed and set a cup in front of her.

"Drink up, child."

"Thank you, ma… Hattie," she said, as a look from the crone chilled the politeness in her throat. She quickly took the cup, noting it was warm and smelled different, but she was a polite person. Alice drank and drank, though it was bitter and lacked anything of a flavor she knew as 'tea'.

Her eyes were drawn to the cooking fire as a small mouse scurried across the hearthstone. She blinked, because it was almost as if the mouse had looked at her in pity. She put that whimsical thought aside, and just watched the fire. Her body was feeling more distant from her, and the howling was more a song in the distance than something to fear. She could listen to it all night, and come morning, she would find her way back to the campsite.

* * *

The wolf song was growing so loud, and Alice could see the moon again. She did not remember going outside, but here she was beneath the trees again. She was so tired but she didn't think she could run anywhere. With a sad heart, Alice sat against the trunk of a fallen tree, and hoped the wolves would go on past.

As if that hopeful thought had shielded her, Alice heard the song fade away. The crunch of leaves and twigs came soon after, making her sure that she was about to be rescued. She looked up toward the obvious trail and saw impossibly large men moving toward her. As they came closer, she thought they were all wearing pelts of some kind… until the moon glinted on the sharp fangs in elongated mouths on their faces. Alice dared not scream, praying so hard that they would not see her. When it was clear that they had, she tried to rise, only to find neither her legs nor her arms would obey her, feeling as if they wee weighted down.

"And the prey is found," came the voice from earlier before a thump of something large landing on the trunk startled Alice into looking away from the beast men. It was the cat once more, yet too large to be even a lynx. "You may choose… the tearing of flesh they offer, or the more graceful dance of the cat," she said, and Alice watched as the cat finished changing into a woman with a cat's mouth and eyes.

"Choose?"

The beast men snarled, pressing in, but still hesitating from the clearing closest to the pair.

"Quickly, or I shall grow bored and vanish once more."

"Cat!" Alice screamed as one of the beast men lunged at her. He was met by the woman, her claws striking and a low growling purr escaping her. The beast men fell back, including the one who had been bravest, leaving Alice to the victor.

The woman with her cat face turned back and came to brush Alice's hair back from her face. "And now you are mine."

* * *

The children were cuddled in close to their mother now, with the littlest one trying hard not to cry and whimper at the tale.

"No one rescued her?" the eldest asked.

The mother smiled. "Maybe there is more, but for now, I think we should all go sleep. We don't want the wolfmen and catwomen finding us as the fire dies, do we?"

Over their protests, the mother chivvied everyone to their sleeping bags in the tent. The eldest waited until last, looking at her mother outside it.

"Your name is Alice, Mother. Why tell us a story about a girl of that name that ends so..." She shrugged for lack of a good word.

Alice smiled, and maybe her eyes shifted a little to look more like a cat's. "I did say there may be more, didn't I?"


End file.
